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Nice Guys Finish First
Nice Guys Finish First is an Indie Pop/Powerpop solo project of Russell Heiman. His music had previously combined elements of Electro and Dance music. Biography The beginning (2005-2006) Nice Guys Finish First began in November 2005 as Russell. The first song ever recorded was a cover of "Welcome To My Life" by Simple Plan. The first songs that were recorded using instruments were piano covers of Death Cab for Cutie and Hellogoodbye. In 2006, Russell shifted his instrument focus to acoustic guitar. Using his guitar, the first original song, "I Wanted You to Know," was written. Russell played his first show at Noche Blue on November 19, 2006. His set included his original song and covers of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" and The All-American Rejects song, "Swing, Swing." Later in 2006, Russell began to make more electronic and techno songs. His first song of this kind was his cover of Patent Pending's song "Decemberween." Nice Guys Finish First (2006-2007) In late 2006, Russell changed his project's name to Nice Guys Finish First. Russell teamed up with Britt Petley to help on live guitar for his shows in early 2007. As part of this partnership, Russell also played with Britt's project, For Every Action and wrote the verses to a song called "Take It or Leave It." They performed the song for the first time at the Bethpage High School Talent Show in February 2007. Russell left the band soon after and decided to continue Nice Guys Finish First on his own. The first EP that Russell released was called this is a demo (EP). It featured a few demos that he recorded in school. The EP came out on June 30, 2007. Conversion to a full band (2007) During the summer of 2007, Russell continued to write music. In July, Nice Guys Finish First became a full band when Charlie Mertens joined on Synth, Mike Crawbuck joined on Drums, Jon Mackey joined on Bass, and Dave Wurtzel joined on Guitar. The first full band show took place at the Vintage Lounge on September 15, 2007. The band drew 80-100 people. The band recorded three songs with Matt Lagattuta of Valet Parking in early October 2007. The full band was short lived, however. After a show at the Knitting Factory in New York City on October 21, 2007, the band members decided to part ways with Russell due to personal conflicts and went on to create Ioninetyfour. Back on his own (2007-2009) Russell continued to work on his debut full-length CD, Nice Guys Finish First (album) after the split. He released the album in late April 2008 on iTunes and other digital retailers. After the album was released, Nice Guys Finish First began to attract a huge following on MySpace. Because of this, demand for a show came about. Following this, Russell then created a new lineup for his live band, composed of Alex Simonoff on guitar, Kerin Cunningham on bass, piano, and back-up vocals. Avery Yurman was part of the live band for a short amount of time and played synth until Russell took over for her. On July 20th, the band of Russell, Alex, and Kerin permormed at the Vibe Lounge along with Stereo Skyline, Scenes and Sirens and Gabriel the Marine. During this time, Kerin and Alex formed a side project titled The Kerin and Alex Side Project. Nice Guys Finish First planned to have shows during Russell's extended vacations from college, however such shows never occured. On June 17, 2009 Isah from Isabelle and a Guitar was added to the live band. Russell and Isah started a side project at that time called Russell & Isah. During Summer 2009, Nicole Frontera joined the live band on drums. A new direction (2009-2010) In August 2009, Russell announced that Nice Guys Finish First was a full band again and that the genre would be changing to Indie Pop. All of the members of the live band became members of the full band. The new sound would have ditched auto-tune and used more traditional instruments. On December 31, 2009, all of the band members besides Russell left the band due to both musical differences and personal conflicts between Russell and Isah following their breakup, making Nice Guys Finish First a solo project once again. Hiatus (2010-present) On February 21, 2010, it was announced that Nice Guys Finish First would be going on an indefinite hiatus. Russell continues to work on music during the Hiatus, but hasn't released anything publically. However, he has stated that he will have new music released in 2001. Members *Russell Heiman - vocals/guitar (2005-present) Former members *Mike Crawbuck is xSTOKEDx - drums (2007-10/21/2007) *Jon Mackey - bass (2007-10/21/2007) *Charlie Mertens - synth (2007-10/21/2007) *Dave Wurtzel - guitar (2007-10/21/2007) *Kerin Cunningham - bass/backing vocals (8/22/2009-12/31/2009) *Alex Simonoff - guitar/backing vocals (8/22/2009-12/31/2009) *Isabel Epstein - electric violin/piano/backing vocals (8/22/2009-12/31/2009) *Nicole Frontera - drums (8/22/2009-12/31/2009) Former live band members *Britt Petley - guitar (2006-2007) *Avery Yurman - synth (2008) *Kerin Cunningham - bass/backing vocals (2008-8/22/2009) *Alex Simonoff - guitar/backing vocals (2008-8/22/2009) *Isabel Epstein - electric violin/piano/backing vocals (6/17/2009-8/22/2009) *Nicole Frontera - drums (7/24/2009-8/22/2009) Notes *Mike Crawbuck was in Eleven to Your Seven before joining the band. He is now drumming in Ioninetyfour. Then after they broke up, he joined a band called Wild International and was shortly after booted out and joined War Widows. They split very quickly after forming. Wild International is still remain together with separate members, Ryan Camenzuli, Bryan Daly, and Greg Coffey. *Jon Mackey was in In Their Agony and continued to participate in that band when he joined. He was in that band and was bassist for Ioninetyfour. They broke up early 2010. *Charlie Mertens was in Ambient Noise before joining the band. He played synth in Ioninetyfour for a while, but eventually left the band. *Dave Wurtzel was in Complex Simplicity before joining the band. He was the guitarist in Ioninetyfour. They broke up early 2010. *Kerin Cunningham was in How to Be a Martyr before joining the live band. *Alex Simonoff and Kerin Cunningham formed a side project named The Kerin and Alex Side Project. * Before joining the live band, Isabel Epstein played in her solo project, Isabelle and a Guitar and continues to do so after leaving both the band and live band. *Russell Heiman and Isabel Epstein formed a side project named Russell & Isah which terminated when Isabel left the band. Discography *this is a demo (EP) (June 2007) *Nice Guys Finish First (album) (April 2008) Category:Musicians Category:Vintage Lounge Bands